Photos of the Day 12/24

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An Israeli Arab boy dressed up as Santa Claus sits in a cardboard box during a Christmas parade through the town of Nazareth on Christmas Eve, Thursday. Moti Milrod/AP

The Baiturrahman mosque is seen in Banda Aceh in Indonesia on Dec. 24. Five years ago on Dec. 26, an earthquake struck off the coast of Indonesia's Aceh province, triggering an Indian Ocean tsunami that killed about 226,000 people in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Thailand, and nine other countries. Beawiharta/Reuters

Mayon volcano continues to spew ash and lava on Thursday during another mild eruption in Legazpi City, Philippines, on Dec. 24. Authorities continued to warn that a potentially hazardous eruption is possible and tens of thousands of Filipinos will spend Christmas in evacuation centers. Reuters

Children dressed in Christmas-themed outfits line up before a celebration at a kindergarten in Hanoi, Vietnam, on Dec. 24. Kham/Reuters

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's bodyguards stand outside the Church of the Nativity, traditionally believed by Christians to be the birthplace of Jesus, in Bethlehem, on Dec. 24. The top Roman Catholic cleric in the Holy Land delivered Christmas wishes on Thursday for peace in the Middle East. Oded Balilty/AP

A car is crushed by a fallen tree in Nairobi, Kenya, on Thursday after a storm with heavy rain swept through the area. Sayyid Azim/AP

Violet Hatta, a one-month-old giraffe, stands near her mother Yosimi during her first day out in public at the Prigen Safari Park in Pasuruan, East Java, Indonesia. Trisnadi/AP

Members from the Zhujiajia Catholic Church take part in a Christmas parade on the outskirts of Shanghai on Dec. 24. Aly Song/Reuters

Worshippers light candles in the Church of the Nativity ahead of Christmas celebrations on Dec. 24. Ammar Awad/Reuters

A man buys a Christmas tree on Dec. 24 in Krasnoyarsk, Russia. The temperature in the region dropped down to -25.6 degrees Fahrenheit. Ilya Naymushin/Reuters

Sheep are covered in snow in Helperby, England, on Thursday. Nigel Roddis/Reuters

In this photo released by Feld Motor Sports from Dec. 15, Mike Mason of Reno, Nev., performs a Hart Attack trick at the Los Angeles Arena in California. Jake Klingensmith/Feld Motor Sports/AP

A jogger runs in Tom McCall Waterfront Park as the Hawthorne Bridge over the Willamette River in Portland, Ore., is fogged in on Thursday. Don Ryan/AP

On Friday, Russia's sports ministry denied accusations of state-sponsored doping that implicate more than 1,000 athletes across more than 30 sports in sample swapping, tampering with samples, and taking steroid cocktails designed to evade Olympic testing.